Rosette and a bad weather in Louisiana

It is about time to post some updates on how puppies have been doing in their new homes. Today we received this shocking picture and a letter from Lynn and Ann Pierce from Louisiana.

We had unbelievable amount of rain Saturday and I thought it would be a good time to check out Rosette under those types of conditions in our yard. We had thunder, lightning and pretty hard rain while we were playing in the water together and she did great. (I did not want to pass up this opportunity).

She really enjoyed herself and I did too, and she was never concerned with the bad weather. She is adjusting perfectly and  this weekend we are heading to our deer hunting camp in Woodville, Mississippi north of St. Francisville, Louisiana. 

I will introduce her to the hunting grounds where she will be doing her deer tracking this hunting season. I will do a couple of drags with her in the woods to see how she does in her new surroundings.

We are all enjoying her a lot. Thanks for a great puppy.


Lynn and Ann,
You would not find me playing in the water during thunderstorm and lightning! But I guess you guys play differently in Louisiana. Please be careful and stay safe. I guess all this exposure of puppies to the pond and water has been paying off. Rosette must be one resilient puppy.

We are getting spoiled!

When Lynn and Ann were here last Saturday we lent them our Sherpa bag for transporting Rosette in the cabin on their flight back to Louisiana. Today we received the bag back and before I opened the box I had wondered why it was so heavy. As it turned out the bag was full of Louisiana goodies. Thank you Lynn and Ann!!! You have been way too generous. I guess you must really like Rosette :-) Now we have all the food to go with the beer and wine we received from Stan. And since next Friday we are hosting a UBT blood tracking test, we'll serve some of the Louisiana treats to trackers from Quebec.

We are truly blessed by all the wonderful people who got our puppies. They quickly are becoming part of our extended family.

I should mention that the Sherpa bag was a gift too that we received from Sherry Ruggieri several years ago. We have been putting it to a good use. The bag will go on its next trip to Georgia where Ruger will be going to his new home.

Teckel family dynamics caught on video

When Pam and Hanna left with Quick, I let Gilda play with two remaining puppies. A larger puppy in the video, Ruger, is Gilda's son. The other one, Quenotte, is Keena's puppy. The video starts when Quenotte is inviting Gilda to play. Gilda is nice to the little pup but quite dismissive. She lights up though when Ruger joins the party. Throughout the rest of the play session she ignores Quenotte  (who is desperate to be part of the action). If you looked at these three dachshunds from a distance, you'd think that the three were playing together. In reality just two of them, Gilda and Ruger, a mother and a son, were playing, while Quenotte tried to join the fun.

Quick and his new home in Reading, PA

Today Quick left for his new home in Reading, PA. He is going to live on a 55-acre farm, where Pam Ellenberger and Paul Stelmach's family is going to move this fall. Pam is a surgeon, but she quit her job to become a farmer and raise alpacas. I can relate to that career move :-)  Pam and Paul fell in love with the wirehaired dachshund Georgia (Nellie von Moosbach-Zuzelek) owned by their friend and hunting buddy from Texas, Paul Vrana. Quick is going to be their daughter's dog.

Hanna, good luck with Quick! Stay in touch; I am sure that Quick's life will be full adventures.

Pam and Hanna with Quick

Where is Waldo?

Many thanks to Susanne for this very cute picture of Waldo (previously Geico).

Today we said goodbye to Ranger

Today Ranger left for a new home with Gail and Vince Latella from Long Island. The Latellas have already one dachshund from us, an eight-year-old Hannah. They have been on our waiting list for two years now. The "problem" is that Gail and Vince do not hunt so they have been patiently waiting for a "pet" puppy. We never know in advance whether we will have a pet puppy so actually getting a puppy like this from us sometimes requires a very long waiting period. In the last week we decided that Gail and Vince's home will be a right one for Ranger.

We always select a puppy for new owners with a puppy's best interest at heart. Ranger is a gorgeous puppy, who actually uses his nose a lot and follows a scent line well. He has a hunting drive, but his temperament is not as solid as we like to see. He is on a somewhat nervous and timid side; he does not want to be crowded by other pups and dogs, and he is very submissive with people. We could see the difference in his behavior early, especially when we started to expose puppies to loud noises. His first experience with the sound of bubble wrap was caught on this video. He is the puppy who is very nervous about the crackling sound of bubble wrap and tries to hide.

Ranger is now 13 weeks old and he has come a long way. He does not show noise sensitivity any more. But we decided that he will be better off in a home where there is not going to be any pressure to perform in the field. Gail is retired now and Ranger will have an excellent home with a lot of love and attention. Hopefully he and Hannah will become good buddies and will enjoy a large back yard together. Below are the pics of Vince, Gail and their niece Elizabeth.

 

Roulette aka Rosette and her new owners from Louisiana

Yesterday we had a pleasure of spending a day with Lynn and Ann Pierce. They came all the way from Cut Off, Louisiana, to pick up their new puppy. I have included a map of the nearby area where they live; it is 60 miles south of New Orleans and quite close to the recent oil spill.

Lynn is an avid deer hunter and outdoorsman. He approached us in January about getting a puppy that would have a good potential for blood tracking and at the same time be a companion for their family. Ann and Lynn have three grandchildren and another one is expected soon so the pup would have to be good with young kids. We think that Roulette, who now is going to be called Rosette, is a good choice.

Lynn impressed us a great deal when he showed his binder with the very neatly organized information and pictures collected from our blogs. Usually we give puppy buyers a binder with some printed info, but this man's binder was already at least two inches thick. Wow!!!

View Larger Map

Lynn and Ann - good luck with your puppy. Call or e-mail any time.

Pictures of puppies at the age of 3 months

Puppies are almost three months old. This is how they look like at this age.

Ranger

Ranger

Roulette

Roulette

Ruger

Ruger

Quenotte

Quennotte

Quick

Quick

A new puppy for Craig Dougherty of NorthCountry Whitetails

Time flies when you are having fun. So the seven hours that we spent with Craig Dougherty and Sharon Scholl of NorthCountry Whitetails felt more like an hour. Craig and his son Neil have taken food plot management to its highest level, and they are the authors of highly successful and popular  Grow 'Em Right: A Guide to Creating Habitat and Food Plots.

We are sure that Craig's work with Quentin (aka Radar) is going to generate a lot of interest in the use of blood tracking dogs in the recovery of wounded whitetails.

It was great meeting you Craig and Sharon. Good luck with Radar!

A pack of six puppies

We are down to six puppies, and two more will be going to their new homes in the next five days. We are enjoying the six puppies a great deal! These are just a couple of pics to prove it.

A change of name for Queenie

We decided on the puppy that we are going to keep for ourselves, and it is going to be Queenie. The problem is that John does not like her name. When we started to use specific  names in reference to individual puppies, we had no idea which pup we are going to keep and hence the problem. Well, we have been debating the name change for quite a while now, and with the Q letter finding something that we both like has not been easy. I like French names starting with Q but there are not many of them. And we don't want a name that sounds similar to a names of a dog that we already have, for example Keena. So today we settled on a new word and we both like its sound. It is a french word Quenotte, and it means a tooth of a child. So now Queenie becomes Quenotte pronounced in a French way (kuh-nowt). For more on this word click here.

Why this particular puppy? She is not a very precocious pup in her tracking, but has showed us enough promise so far. Her agility and size are appealing as she is the smallest of the both litters (except for Geico/Waldo), and we are trying to reduce the size of dogs in our breeding program. He coat will be quite short, probably similar to Keena's coat. It means very little grooming (an important factor for us). She is going to have a short beard when mature. We like her responsiveness and very quick intelligence. So, at least for now, Quenotte is going to stay here.

Another busy weekend spent with new puppy owners from Ohio

Saturday was a busy and long day. We usually spend 5 hours with new puppy owners and this was not an exception. In the morning the Byington family from Sandusky, Ohio made an early appearance. As it turned out they drove all night long and were in our driveway at 7:45 am. We enjoyed our time spent with them, and they left with Quint at 2:30 pm. Quint is a good match for Ben, Heather and their two kids, 1 and 4. He is an affectionate and easy going pup, who never growled at us, even at the end of the blood line with the deer liver in his mouth. I think this year our biggest challenge has been to decide which puppies should go to families with small children. All the puppies have shown good potential for blood tracking and from this point of view we have been very impressed with both litters. At the same time the pups have demonstrated a wide range of temperaments and activity level, and we had to take these factors into consideration when making decision how to match puppies with their new owners.

We spent the rest of Saturday and morning on Sunday with Bill and Laurie Brown, and their two sons Billy and Wiley. Quanta, who most likely is going to be called Maya, will be living with the Brown family in Paris, Ohio. This is a family of deer hunters, and Quanta will fit right in.

Ben and his new puppy Quint

Billy, Bill, Laurie and Wiley Brown with Quanta

And then there were eight...puppies

Last weekend was a busy one as we said good bye to four puppies. On Saturday two puppies left for their new homes.

David Bell and his wife Jacqueline came all the way from Ohio, and they left with Quella (orange collar).

Stan Kite, his wife Vonnie and son Lee came from New Jersey and left with Rilla (white collar).

Both David and Stan are members of the United Blood Trackers and will be using their dachshunds to help hunters recover wounded deer. Stan lives close to Maryland and Delaware and will be able to track in these states. Let's hope that New Jersey is going to legalize blood tracking really soon.

Then on Sunday we spent quite a few hours with Gunn and Mary Lou Gardner from NY and Justin Richins from Utah.

Gunn Gardner (above) is a member of Deer Search of Western New York, and Questa is going to be his tracking partner.

Justin Richins and his partner  http://www.thehuntingcompany.com/ operate the largest outfitting company in the western part of the US, and Remy is going to track a variety of big game - deer, elk and moose. Justin spent almost all day with us and had a chance to see Remy working a liver drag. Justin's hunting season starts on August 15 and this is a very busy time of the year for him.

We are very fortunate that the pups are going to be in excellent working homes and will be doing what they were bred to do - track.

We are going to end this post with the latest picture of Geiko, who now is being called Waldo. How cool is that picture? On the weekend he also got to swim in the ocean!

Quantum aka Geico leaves for his new home in Maine

Today it was a sad day as we said good-bye to Geico. He is going to live with Koren and Jeff Libby in Maine. I met Koren several times when visiting a good friend of ours, Susanne Hamilton. In January 2007 I flew to Ocala, Florida to breed our Keena to Susanne's Buster. While there I took quite a few pics of Koren training horses, and this is one of them:

Koren is a vet tech so Geico is in good hands in case any health problems arise.

John and I got really attached to this little guy. In the last week Geico has blossomed and has gone through transformation. He got bigger, and his color, initially light brown, got much darker. His coat has grown. This is not an ugly duckling any more.

This is Geico a week ago:

And this was Geico today:

Today I met Susanne who was on her way from New Jersey to Maine, and she took Geico for Jeff and Koren.

Susanne is holding her puppy Meggie and Geico

I hear that Geico is with his new family now. Jeff wrote: "Hi Jolanta! We just wanted to let you know that Geico arrived here safe and sound this evening. We have introduced him to the family and he is making a smooth transition. :) Koren and I can't thank you enough for this wonderful gift. He is very special! We already love him very much and he is such a fun little man. We will provide lots of pics and updates. Thank you again. Sincerely, Jeff and Koren"

Thank you Jeff and Koren for providing a perfect home for the little pup! Good luck and keep us posted. We surely will miss him.

Remy on a fresh deer liver scent line

It really got hot when Remy started to work this deer liver drag - around 85F. It was a long line with three checks and he did very well.

Chris and Gerti

It seems like it was just yesterday when Chris Barr came here all the way from Indiana to pick up his new puppy Gerti (Gwen v Moosbach-Zuzelek). Actually it was 13 months ago as she was a puppy from Gilda's litter sired by Billy. Chris did a lot of research and communicated with the people who have already had dogs from us, like Chuck Collier and Joe Walters. Chuck and Joe's dachshunds are short coated with no beard, and Chris insisted on a puppy with this type of coat.

Today I got a nice e-mail from Chris, who wrote:

"Hi Jolanta,
Just a quick Gerti update. She got her shots last week and was less than impressed with the needle. She weighed 20.8 lbs and the vet was impressed with the shape she’s maintaining.

I know you know what I mean, you hate to say any dog is your favorite because you love all that you have or have had, but Gerti is absolutely the best companion dog I’ve ever had. The kids are running all the time. They basically just need dad for rides and cash. This allows me a lot of time to spend with Gerti. We have several places that we exercise, you know, I don’t want her to get bored or anything, including the neighbor’s pond where she has evolved into a swimming nut. I think she likes to swim as much or more than my lab did. I took her fishing last night with my daughter’s boyfriend and my son, and Gerti swam for an hour solid. She went from person to person, doing her best to catch their bait, (not a great thing) or the fish they were reeling in. My son finally stripped down to his skivvies and swam with her. She loves it. She’s especially fond of trying to catch the hundreds of squeaking frogs. Makes her as you put it, “a good/tired puppy”.

She runs rabbits beautifully; I can’t wait to try her on a field trial next spring. However, I’ve tried to limit the “rabbit exposure” this summer at Andy’s urging since Trackfest. She’s so gamey; just want her to focus on deer when we’re tracking. When we’re out and she bumps one though, it makes for a great opportunity to work on her recall.

It’s been too hot to lay any practice tracks since July 4th weekend when the mosquitoes and deer flies nearly carried us away. So we’ve just spent the month walking, running, and swimming. When it starts to cool a bit, we’ll do some more training.

October 1st is right around the corner, hard to believe. My goal for Gerti is 20 tracks, with hopefully at least 5 legitimate finds.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and tell you how much we love Gerti. The kids say she’s “spoiled rotten”."

Below there are two pictures of Chris and Gerti, first one with Joe and the other one with Chuck. They all have become good friends.

Thanks Chris for the update! We are really happy that you and Gerti bonded strongly and enjoy each other so much.

Video of Quanta working a deer liver drag

Today was a busy day. We worked more pups on liver drags, and we also had a visitor. A friend of ours, Lena Leonardsson, dropped Hexel (who belongs to Laurel Whistance-Smith) off so we could breed her to our Tommy. She brought her lurcher, a 17-month-old Bedlur.
Below is a video clip of Quanta working a fresh liver drag. The line was marked with red flags, and was approximately 70 yards long with three turns. Quanta was very good though she was not flawless. I liked her intensity.

When we sell our puppies to blood tracking homes, we want the pups to be able to work a scent line of this difficulty. It reassures us as breeders that puppies have a potential for blood tracking. The rest will be up to their new owners. It is good to remember that puppies are just puppies. They are inconsistent and they change a lot while they mature and develop. Their motivation and tracking desire will increase. Their performance will get better while they learn through training and through experience on the job. Some puppies are more precocious than others but it does not mean that they are going to be better blood trackers when they are adults..  

*****

Puppies meet Bedlur